Tim,
I know we seem a bit jaded but think about it; the CHS pulled some incredibly dirty shennanigans with their "RFP Process" and what they tried to do should have had them fired.....but it didn't.
They lied to everyone and did it without even blinking. They haven't told a single truth in three years!
Everything is "spin" because they are in perpetual "damage control" mode! You would think that someone at the state level would start to wonder just why a world class operation
that was profitable could tank so quickly wouldn't you?!! Apparently, nobody
wants to know!
They have tried to besmirch Mark Greska and GTL Inc. with inuendos, obfuscations and outright lies (which fortunately haven't succeeded) and now are trying to cover their asses by blaming Railstar! To listen to these people one would think that, depending upon what day you are listening, "all is fine" or "there are challenges that are being met" or "we have had some unforseen difficulties but are still better than we were last year" but
never "we made a mistake plain and simple"!
I and many on this board have nothing but contempt for Bell and Behrens but I am also becoming weary of 'tilting at windmills'! Nothing we do seems to matter! Why keep b*tching about it?
Personally, I hope that the state auditor finds something to force Bell and Behren's resignations but I'm not holding my breath. There has been
nothing done at the state level to make me think that this won't be swept under the rug the same as it always has!
The sad part is that the Loop is slowly(?) deteriorating under the CHS's management. Railstar has kept the process slowed but the realities of the situation are catching up with them! Despite "heroic" efforts the equipment is being used at a ruinous rate! Three years later and the ONLY steam engine that they have needs a complete overhaul!
The #9 (which
should have been a sterling example of the CHS's commitment to historical preservation sits on blocks out in the elements at Silver Plume(!) They couldn't even put it in the Glass Palace to keep it preserved! Now it's in pieces and not likely to be reassembled anytime soon because the CHS went with a bid of $250,000 when nearly everybody that has any credibility in locomotive restoration was saying $600-$750,000 minimum and were completely surprised when the engine nearly tore itself apart up on the Loop last year!!! You get what you pay for! Of course, the bids to "fix" and complete the restoration of #9 are coming in much higher than the CHS wants so they are sitting on it trying to find someone that will "low-ball" a bid so they can save some money(!!!)
THAT grieves me the most! They need a locomotive to save their butts and the #9 proved to not be it so they are putting it on the back burner again. (I wonder if they will move it out to Morningstar siding again?) So much for a committment to historical preservation...
These guys don't learn from their mistakes! They keep trying to do the same stupid things that waste the taxpayers money even though it's been proven to not work! Does
anybody at the state level give a damn??!!! Well, we shall see. Until then I am now going to go back to just reading about what is happening and try and keep from commenting upon it. It really is depressing...
